Afghan Refugees in Pakistan

Feb 3, 2014

For more than three decades, Pakistan has been home to one of the world's largest refugee communities: the more than one million Afghans who have fled years of warfare in their home country. Living in temporary shelters along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border -- and cared for by the the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Pakistan's government, and numerous international care agencies -- this massive and persistent population remains vulnerable to multiple dangers, from outbreaks of disease to violence spilling over from the war next door. Associated Press photographer Muhammed Muheisen has spent the past several years in Pakistan, documenting the lives of these refugees, with a particular focus on the most vulnerable: the children caught up in the chaos as their families try to keep them safe. Muheisen's portraits below are part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan. [30 photos]

In this Saturday, January 25, 2014 photo, Afghan refugee girl, Nazmina Bibi, 7, poses for a picture, while playing with other children in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

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Afghan refugee girls, background, repeat verses of the Quran after their classmate Mohammed Akbar, 7, during a daily class to learn how to read verses of the Quran at a mosque in a poor neighborhood of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on March 24, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee boys play on a hill near the slum where they live with their families, on the outskirts of Islamabad, on April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee Gul Bibi Shamra, 3, poses for a picture, while playing with other children in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Hayat Khan, 8, poses on the outskirts of Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Safia Mourad, age 4. Photo taken near Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee children follow a performance organized by the Hashoo foundation, in a tent at their camp on the outskirts of Islamabad, on February 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Rozeena Zaman, 7, an Afghan refugee, watches other children playing in a poor neighborhood of Rawalpindi, Pakistan,on February 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee boy, Abdulrahman Bahadir, 13, poses near Islamabad, on January 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Robina Haseeb, age 5. Photo taken near Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Akhtar Babrek, age 13. Photo taken near Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee child hides in a wooden cart near his home in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Islamabad, on February 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee Samiullah Afsar, 5, smiles while carrying a puppy he found in a pile of a garbage, on the outskirts of Islamabad, on October 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee, her burka billowing, holds her daughter as she walks to her home through an alley of a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Islamabad, on September 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee, Basmina, 3, poses for a picture while playing with other children in a slum on the outskirts of Islamabad, on January 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Naseebah Zarghoul, age 6. Photo taken near Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Hasanat Mohammed, age 5. Photo taken near Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugees play a traditional fighting game in a field, as the sun sets on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee boy poses with a plastic rifle as he and other children celebrate the first day of the Eid al-Fitr festival, in a slum outside Islamabad, on August 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee girls listen to their teacher, during an English language class at their school near Islamabad, on December 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee boy stands in a mosque's yard while girls sweep the ground outside of Islamabad, on November 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee boy, Allam Ahmad, 6, poses on the outskirts of Islamabad, on January 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Laiba Hazrat, age 6. Photo taken near Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Awal Gul, age 12. Photo taken near Islamabad, on January 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee girl wearing a burqa plays with other children in a slum in northern Pakistan, on August 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee drinks water leaking from a public water point near Islamabad, on September 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Aisha Daoud, 4, holds a copy of the Quran while taking part in a daily class to learn how to read verses of the Quran, at a mosque in a poor neighborhood of Rawalpindi, on October 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee boy plays in a polluted a stream to beat the heat in a slum area near Islamabad, on June 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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Afghan refugee children lie on a pile of straw gathered for the livestock, while playing in a poor neighborhood of Islamabad, on December 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #

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An Afghan refugee girl, left, looks on while standing with her sister, outside their house, in a poor area of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on January 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #